NHL draft

[melissa\'01]

from USCHO

"On a separate ranking is one more notable college player; Cornell's David Leneveu is the top-rated college goaltender, checking in at No. 6 on the CSS list of North American goaltenders. Likely, his stock value won't break him into the first round, but a second- or third-round prospect isn't too far off."

[Al DeFlorio]

And the second-highest-ranked college goaltender is that well-known sieve, Dov--at #12 overall.

SLU's McKenna is third at #17.

[cbuckser]

The Hockey News projects that Dave LeNeveu will be drafted in the third round (THN has ranked him #78 overall).  This is the Central Scouting Service's evaluation of him:  "Possesses strong skating ability with good balance, quickness and athleticism ... has very quick lateral movement and uses a controlled butterfly style ... has a fast glove hand ... plays a sound positional game, effectively staying square to the shooter ... is very alert and aware of what is happening around him ... effectively uses the paddle-down technique in scramble situations ... effectively sets up for the defensemen to breakout ... has good overall instincts ... plays with a lot of intensity with a confident attitude ... is a strong individual who effectively holds his ground when forwards crash the net ... refuses to get intimidated."

I'm selfishly hoping that the team that drafts Dave does not have a short-term goaltending need.  A team that wants to rush his development would throw oodles of money at Dave and encourage him to play in the WHL.  I doubt a team like the Sharks or Devils, on the other hand, would pressure him to leave Cornell early.

On another draft note, none of the incoming freshmen are draft eligible.  They were all born after the September 15, 1983 cutoff date.

[Greg Berge]

Maybe the NHL GM's have learned something about pulling college goalies out early.  To wit: it doesn't work.  Goalies mature late and can learn a lot more by being the #1 in the NCAA than a #3 pine-rider in the I or A.

[DeltaOne81]

Greg wrote:
[Q]the I[/Q]

The what now? don't know of any such league? ;-)

[Josh '99]

Higgins goes to Montreal with the 14th pick.

[Greg Berge]

I/A, you know what I mean... ;-)

Higgins went way high.  Who knows, maybe the Canadians will move him up.

[melissa\'01]

Lenny drafted in 2nd round to Phoenix.

[g]

46 PHX DAVID LENEVEU 5/23/1983 FERNIE, BC CA 6' 1" 170 ECAC CORNELL UNIV. G L

[Jordan 04]

Bah!  The Isles were supposed to trade DiPietro and take Lenny  ::nut::

But congratulations to David on the selection.  But don't go anywhere just yet, please!

[Josh '99]

Jordan wrote:

Bah!  The Isles were supposed to trade DiPietro and take Lenny  ::nut::

But thank god they didn't, because if they had I could never root for him.  It's tough enough that I'm going to have to root for DMooron.

[cbuckser]

Thank goodness the Coyotes recently acquired Brian Boucher to be their #1 goaltender of the future.  According to faceoff.com's draft preview, Coyote management feels that Boucher and Patrick DesRoschers will adequately man the pipes after Sean Burke skates off into the sunset.  Hopefully, Phoenix will be more patient with Dave LeNeveu's development than with former first-round pick Krys Kolanos's.

Dave was the seventh goalie taken in the draft.

[ugarte]

I don't know hockey draft history very well, but 7 goalies in 42 picks sounds like a lot. True?

(Oh, and congratulaions to LeNeveu.  I hope you have better luck beating out Boucher than JMP did.)

[Greg Berge]

Sounds like a lot to me.  Wasn't there some insane number of goalies taken in the first round a few drafts ago, like 6 in the first 30 picks?

[JordanCS]

Let's just hope LeNeveu stays to finish out his college career.  I don't think leaving early has really helped JMP any, so hopefully Dave will realize that and decide to stick around.

Jordan